Last Petal
by strangely-wise
Summary: "I shall give you this rose," a thump of energy surged through the clearing, revealing a pristine white rose,   "the petals will drop, and as the last falls, you will die. Unless, Sesshoumaru,you find someone you love, who loves you back."
1. Please! Don't kill her!

Naraku chuckled, the deep baritone of his vocal chords expressing his pleasure from the scene before him. His dark gaze swept over the clearing, his chuckle turning into a hearty belly laugh as he spotted various members of Inuyasha's traveling pack around the clearing.

Only the light of the stars illuminated the said half-demon. Or human, as the case may have been that night. Inuyasha's black hair hung around his limp form, the blood from his wounds staining his torn red clothing in a darker crimson. Small gasps of air to sustain his body were the only evidence that the boy was still alive. The Tetsaiga still hung about his waist, completely useless in a human's hand.

It was not hard to find which night Inuyasha's human half took over him. By a simple analyzing of the group's traveling habits and moon pattern had Naraku correctly estimating the night of humanity landing on the new moon. The elimination of Inuyasha had been one of the easiest. The boy relied so heavily on his hanyou abilities and Tetsaiga that when he was human, there was virtually nothing to stop Naruku from taking him out.

The next member Naraku had neutralized was the demon slayer whose village he had annihilated. And whose brother he still had underneath his control. He took excessive pleasure in her defeat, for he had used the aforementioned brother to disarm her. And then use himself to force his sister to surrender by lining the female slayer's own sword with his belly button, conveying an unspoken message of surrender or watch your brother die.

The slayer choked out an, "I surrender" before Naraku himself had taken her into his clutches. Of course there was a meager protest of the demon cat and the monk, however, his minion Kagura had taken care of it. The fire-cat was now somewhere deep into the forest, no longer a threat, and the monk was now unconscious and slumped awkwardly in a pile of purple robes at the bottom of a tree, his fist clenched and arm trembling with the poison he had consumed through his Wind Tunnel.

With the slayer now in Naraku's possession, there was only one member left in the way. And she was certainly being troublesome. Kagome had long sent her surrogate son away from the battle, the fox-child obeying his foster mother's order. Seconds after that, she had been shoved behind Inuyasha with the half-demon-turned-human's laughable declaration of protection.

Naraku had focused on Inuyasha, the untrained priestess not much of a threat unless she had her hands on a bow and arrow. That was until, at that moment, as he was about to end the slayer's miserable existence, a rock, blazing pink with holy powers, flew through Naraku's barrier, dissipating the energy and the rock itself bouncing harmlessly against the evil man's white baboon pelt.

"Let Sango go!" Kagome screamed, powering up another rock with her energy. She stood near Inuyasha's fallen form, tears streaming from her blue eyes. Kagome was standing shakily before Naraku, dressed in dirty blue jeans and a faded green t-shirt, having traded her school uniform for easier clothes to travel in weeks ago.

Naraku's laughter died down for a moment, leaving a satisfied smirk upon the evil half-demon's lips. "Oh? And why should I do that?" he drawled.

Instead of answering, she threw her charged rock again, watching it as it passed through Naraku's barrier and once again hit the bamboo pelt, leaving nothing but a small spot of dirt.

The half-demon laughed, and turned his attention back to the demon slayer's demise, but still keeping an eye on the priestess, in case she did something funny. Raising his hand for the final blow, the girl's voice interrupted him.

"No! _Please!_ Don't kill her!" Kagome pleaded. Her wide eyes took in the horror in front of her. She had seen, one-by-one, each of her friends fall from the battle, all because of the powerful shards of the jewel she had shattered and was now the guardian of.

She stared at her unconscious best friend in clutches of her most hated enemy, claws still poised to separate the head from the shoulders. Her brain overloading with so much devastation forgot its basic functions and she was no longer able to blink, much less stand. Her knees gave out and landed on the dirt. Even the clutch she had on her last charged rock waned and tumbled out of her fingers.

The only thing her brain could think about was Sango. Her best friend, her confidant, her sister for all intents and purposes, even her therapist. The only person in the world who knew all of her secrets, her hopes, dreams, pet peeves, things she hated, and think she liked. Sango, in turn, had shared her deepest hopes and dreams. Sango looked forward to a future of rebuilding her village, with Miroku by her side. Such a hopeful and happy future could not be ended.

Naraku saw the priestess fall to her knees, salty tears not halting their descent down her face, and chuckled. "Since you said 'please', I won't kill her." He teased. Taking sadistic pleasure from the hope that seeped into her eyes, he watched gleefully as he saw it die with his next words, "I'll just keep her; perhaps I will make her like her brother."

"_No! _No!" she screamed in protest, her voice breaking. She had to do something. Sudden inspiration came, an epiphany with sudden clarity and a way to save the life of her surrogate sister.

"Take me. Take me instead."

~~::~~

A/N: So, this story of mine came while watching Disney's Beauty and the beast, so this will be (somewhat) following that story line. There will be a lot of similarities, but I hope this isn't going to be one of those, "Same story, different character" kind of things where it is literally just a carbon copy of BatB.

With that said, no, Naraku is NOT going to be the metaphorical "beast." It is going to be Sesshoumaru, like is says in the description thingy. Just wanted to clear that up before I leave at the cliffhanger. :D


	2. Take me

For Kagome, it just made too much sense. She didn't have much of a future. Even in the future, she had no future. She'd finally flunked out of high school and had nothing to look forward to career-wise. Her friends in the future avoided her like the plague, because, according to her grandpa, she's had several episodes of suffering from it.

In the Feudal Era, her only job was to collect the shards. If she had any semblance of a future after Naraku was defeated, she would try and raise Shippou, but eventually he would leave to go with his own kind. And then there was Inuyasha. His irrevocable love for Kikyou still thrived, barring his heart from all others. Kagome had thought she had a chance once, when Inuyasha seemingly returned her feelings, however, all of Inuyasha's 'returned feelings' were his latent ones from his love for Kikyou. Kagome supposed that is what she got for looking too much like his undead love.

In contrast, Sango had such a bright future ahead of her. During those wonderful times in the hot springs with her best friend, it was found that though she tries to play hard to get, Sango fully intended to banish Miroku from his perverted ways and marry him. And Kagome knew, Miroku would gladly do anything for Sango, call it the special bond that forms between a brother and sister, for that was what Miroku was to her, her brother. Sango and Miroku together, they would surely return to the destroyed home of Sango's and rebuild it, training and recruiting new demon slayers and making hoards of their own from their children.

It was so logical to give Sango a chance to live the future that would be good for all, while ending her own dismal one. So logical, that it was painful. New sobs tore from her throat as Naraku considered her offer.

The hanyou mastermind's original plan was to kill off each of each member of the group one-by-one. Sango had been the first, seeing as she would devastate his next victim, the monk, the most. Next would have been the fox, then the priestess. Last would be Inuyasha.

All of this was for Inuyasha. Striking him when he was weakest, and then killing off his friends, his plan was to break Inuyasha before he destroyed him. Naraku saw it as revenge for Inuyasha stealing the woman his human half, Onigumo, loved. And also for being an overall thorn in his side that kept getting in the way of him collecting the Jewel shards. But seeing as Naraku had the majority of the Jewel, and the irksome miko had the leftover pieces all collected for him and stashed in a convenient glass phial that haphazardly hung around her neck, it would no longer be problem.

However, who was he to look a gift horse in the mouth? His plans could easily be altered to suit this new opportunity. New possibilities opened up before him, and dropping the slayer to the ground, he snatched the priestess and dashed off to his hidden castle. Without any explanation to his minions, he threw the priestess into the dungeons and went to modify his plans for Inuyasha's annihilation. Get the rest of the Jewel and stike Inuyasha with the greatest loss first, not bad of a trade for the life of the already-doomed slayer.

However, his previous plot to thwart Inuyasha's half-brother, the Western Lord were more important at the moment, for as it stood, Lord Sesshoumaru was the only demon alive that would be able to foil his plans. As the evil hanyou settled onto his favored pile of plush pillows and blankets, resting from the exciting night, he picked up the old tomes that had been a most valuable find in the dark basements of his new stolen castle.

These ancient texts offered him a great solution to the 'Western Lord' problem. Turning yellowed page over yellowed page, he committed to memory how to bring his greatest ally to fruition.


	3. He will come and get me!

She had counted the bricks and bars, paced, and for a few hours went officially insane before coming back to herself to once again realize the said brick and bars had not moved and she was still in the dank dungeons of Naraku's fortress.

The only sign of life she saw, for even the rats had fled from the spider hanyou, was the wind demoness Kagura when, twice a day, she was given bread and tepid water. She could feel her clothing becoming baggy, her body accumulating a layer of dirt, and her hair take on the consistency of greasy twine.

In order to avoid sleep, for all it provided her with were replays of what happened on the last night of her freedom, Kagome was partway through counting all of the horizontal lines she could see, for the third time, when she felt an evil and foreboding presence in the night. Like a song that's stuck in your head that you don't know the name to, the feeling of danger and malevolent power was now a dominant presence tickling her own power within her, teasing her and begging her to give the manifestation a name.

Kagome focused all of her attention to identifying this unknown aura, comparing it to other auras and powers she remembered feeling. After several minutes of thought, the greasy-haired girl surmised that the power felt similar to the one that the dark miko that had resurrected Kikyou using Kagome's own soul, however, this presence she felt was older. Ancient.

Just as Kagome had the name of the metaphorical song on the tip of her tongue, the presence vanished. Several mindless hours later in the darkness of her cell, and the presence returned. Excited, for once again the puzzle had returned to her, she concentrated on the aura.

Kagome felt it come closer to where she was incarcerated and she moved to the front of her cell and grasped the cold metal bars, trying to see into the darkness of the dungeon corridor to finally see the answer to the puzzle.

The dungeon entrance banged open, breaking the silence that had accompanied Kagome, causing the girl to startle back at the loss of her odd companion. Slowly, she returned to the front of her cage and pressed her face to the bars.

"He will come and get me! I know he will!" a high pitched and angry voice echoed down the corridor and into her ears. A murmured response was made to the shouting voice that Kagome couldn't make out, but Kagome was positive that the voice was the owner of the aura. The words, though Kagome couldn't hear them, rose and fell in pitch, but the aura remained steady, and if anything, became stronger as the footsteps came closer. One thing that Kagome found was that the voice was definitely a female.

"Lord Sesshoumaru will come! He will come and get me and then you will be sorry!" the child, for who else could have such a vocal sounds, shouted. Having identified the voice with a child, she now recognized it as the aforementioned lord's young ward, Rin.

When the other female voice replied, she could finally make out the words, "He will come. And I will kill him." She said, as if she was saying that she was going to the grocery store and picking up a gallon of milk. The pair finally arrived to the front of her cell, and Kagome could finally make them out.

Just in time to see Rin give a ferocious struggle while tucked under the black-robed figure's arm. "No you won't! Nothing can hurt Lord Sesshoumaru! He's the strongest demon in the world!" Writhing, kicking, and flailing her arms about, nothing that the small girl did seemed to have effect.

Dressed in dark, loose fitting robes, violet hair, and pale skin contrasted. Despite the startling color of hair, it was not the most attention grabbing. Set in the middle of her face, pair of dark, black abysses were open to the world. One would think that such eyes would appear emotionless and flat, however, the so called 'windows to the soul' were filled with many identifiable emotions.

Malice, sadism, hatred, spite, malevolence, cruelty, wickedness, and evil glowed and emanated from those two sole orbs.

"He may be the strongest demon," the creature started, having quite a normal voice, "but there is little that one can do against me! I'm a powerful sorceress!" she crowed, emitting a laugh that might have been quite pleasant if it were coming from anyone else.

Throwing Rin in the cell across from Kagome, the sorceress walked away, all the while Rin still insisting that her Lord Sesshoumaru would come.


	4. I know you!

Kagome surveyed the little girl across from her. She was dressed in a dirt stained checkered orange kimono. A loose, lopsided ponytail was flecked with various pieces of foliage. Her warm, brown and watery eyes glared toward the mysterious sorceress with the evil aura, her tiny hands were trembling in anger. Finally, Rin's gaze found her dungeon-mate.

"I know you!" she gasped, the brown eyes drying and her fists unclenching. "You're the lady that follows Lord Sesshoumaru's brother!" Her face scrunched in confusion for a moment, "But Lord Sesshoumaru's brother said that you were gone…"

Kagome's heart leaped at the possibility of news about her friends, "Inuyasha? When did you see him?" Kagome asked, clutching the cold bars in front of her.

Rin touched her finger to her chin and looked up, "Umm…I think it was two days ago."

"Was he okay? What about Sango and Miroku? Was Shippo okay? Kirara?" Kagome asked, desperately wanting to know if her friends survived.

Rin assumed her thoughtful pose again, "My Lord's brother looked okay, but he was sad. And angry." The girl said, dropping her shoulders for a moment before she straightened her posture and smiled, "But it's okay. Lord Sesshoumaru protected me!"

"Oh…" Kagome murmured, leaning back into her cell. She wanted desperately to know what had happened to her friends. But it was obvious that the little girl didn't know anything else.

Instead, she focused on something else. "How did you get here?" Kagome asked, now wondering how Rin fit into Naraku's plans.

Rin clenched her fists and huffed, angry again, "The wind lady and Naraku were fighting Lord Sesshoumaru and while he was distracted the black lady came and took me."

Kagome smacked the wall. "Naraku's a b—" she stopped herself before she could utter something the little girl could repeat, "—ig jerk."

"He's a dummy head!" Rin agreed, bouncing her fist on her leg in conviction.

In such a dismal place, the incongruity of her statement reversed her anger and made Kagome smile, "A dummy head?"

The girl nodded, her little ponytail wiggling atop her head, "Yes. And a big fat meany face!"

Kagome smiled wider.


	5. How did you come back to life?

Rin's company brightened Kagome's incarceration up considerably. Rin seemed unaffected by the depressing atmosphere of imprisonment in Naraku's dungeon, and held firmly to the belief that her Lord Sesshoumaru would come within a few days. Rin even got Kagome to ignore the evil sorceress's presence that was always there.

Meanwhile, to keep both Rin and herself entertained, Kagome asked about her life with Sesshoumaru, which in turn caused the little girl to tell miraculous stories of her adventures. Each story included the little yellow eyed, green skinned imp name Jaken that disapproves of everything Rin does. An complains when he has to watch over Rin when Lord Sesshoumaru leaves. "But Master Jaken just acts mean because he likes me." Rin whispers to her blue eyed dungeon-mate conspiratorially.

Another star in her stories is AhUn, Sesshoumaru's flying, two-headed dragon steed that is very protective of Rin. "Ah and Un have different personalities," Rin explains, saying that each of the two head, in fact, have two separate brains. "Ah is silly and likes to eat some of the flowers I pick sometimes…" she says, which led to a tangent about how she likes to pick pretty flowers and give them to her companions, eventually, she got back to her original point, "Oh! And Ah is funny and licks my face!" Rin tells Kagome, "His tongue is scratchy and gooey!" she makes the face then giggles.

And, of course, the leading role is her Lord Sesshoumaru.

"How did you meet him?" Kagome asked.

"Well, I found him near the village I used to live in. He was hurt so I tried to make him get better." Ran started. "But Lord Sesshoumaru is strong so he didn't need any help, but I tried anyway." Rin smiled at Kagome, giggling.

Then, Rin became more somber. With the temporary absence of the bubbliness that emanated from the little girl, the darkness of the dungeon seemed to creep in a bit more, having formerly been fended off by the contagious hopefulness of Rin.

"In the village they used to hit me." Kagome gasped, righteous anger filling her, "I had taken a fish from the river and they thought I stole it, so they hit me and sent me away. They told me that I was just an orphan that couldn't talk and no one wanted…"

Kagome again gripped the bars in front of her, sapphire eyes sparkling dangerously in anger, "No, Rin. They were wrong." Kagome said, putting emotion into her words so that she could assure the girl in front of her that she is wanted. And without her Kagome probably would have gone just a bit more insane. And that she made this place so much brighter.

Across the way, the little girl with a side ponytail smiled, "I know that! They were just being mean to me because they thought I stole their fish." Rin said before continuing on with her story, "So I went to Lord Sesshoumaru and gave him the fish. He asked me why I kept coming back, and I was so happy because no one had ever asked me something or really paid attention. They just sent me away. But I couldn't talk to him because my voice was broken, so I just smiled." Rin gave Kagome a big smile, showing all of her teeth, showing her what smile she gave the mysterious injured demon.

Rin continued, Kagome theperfect audience, listening attentively, "Later, when I was looking for more things to give Lord Sesshoumaru, I was attacked by wolves and I died."

Kagome was startled, "You died? How did you come back to life?"

"Lord Sesshoumaru used his sword! I was sitting in a giant field of _beautiful_ flowers," Rin said, her entire being brightening as she came to her favorite part of the story. "And there was another person in the clearing with me, he sat with me and talked with me. He looked a lot like Lord Sesshomaru, but older and with different colors on his cheeks," Rin traced the markings onto her face to show where the person had his, "he said his name was Inu no Taisho," the girl pronounced the name very precisely, bobbing her head to the syllables, "he told me that Lord Sesshoumaru was his son and that he needed someone to protect. After that he told me to be a good girl and told me to wake up. At first, I didn't know what he meant, but I blinked and when I opened my eyes, Lord Sesshoumaru was there!"

Rin smiled, and Kagome smiled back, "And you've been following him ever since?"

"Yup! And Lord Sesshoumaru has protected me the whole way. And I've been a good girl too!"

Kagome laughed again, "I bet you have."

"I have! This one time…" And Rin went on to tell more stories.

**~~::~~ **

**A/N: So, sorry about the late posting. I'm on spring break and I just barely got some internet service. I hope that you guys didn't think I abandoned you! I've been writing and editing chapters! I have not been idle! **

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!**


	6. Do you tell stories?

A few hours later, the little girl chattered about her babysitter Jaken, and the antics of the dragon-steed AhUn. Rin's eyelids sagged, and her words slurred together in sleepiness.

"… So AhUn," she yawned, "stepped on Jaken," another yawn, "like Lord Sessho-ou-maru does sometimes." She slurred, tired. "Lady Kagome?" Rin asked, laying down on the ground and staring at the woman across from her in the separate cell.

"Hm?" Kagome replied, looking at the girl from her position of leaning against the damp cell wall.

"Do you tell stories?" She asked, yawning again and shifting on the cold ground, trying to get comfortable. "My mother used to tell me stories when I was littler. I tried asking Jaken once and he said that he didn't know any." Another yawn.

"I know a few." Kagome said. "I used to tell to Shippou…"

"Shippo's your son, right?" Rin asked, resting her head onto her arm.

Kagome smiled, "Yeah. The last story I told him was the Beauty and the Beast."

"What is that about?" Rin asked, her eyes a little wider in anticipation of hearing a story.

"I'll tell it to you." Kagome said, shifting her position on the wall. Recalling her memories of telling the story to Shippou, she prepared her story. Rin in turn forced herself to wake up so that she could hear Kagome tell the story. Clearing her throat, Kagome began:

"There was once a handsome prince who lived in a grand castle. He loved everything beautiful, and hated everything ugly; he was very shallow, and very selfish. One day, an old woman came to the castle, asking to stay there for the night, but the prince didn't let the old woman in because she was ugly and old, so he insulted her and sent her away.

"Suddenly, the old woman turned into a young and beautiful witch. The prince immediately apologized and offered her a place in his palace. But it was too late. The witch had seen how selfish that the prince was and cast a spell on him, turning him onto a hideous beast and giving him and enchanted rose.

"She said, 'Before the last petal on this rose falls off, you must find someone to love, who loves you back, and then you will become human once more, however, if you don't find love, you will forever stay a beast.'

"The prince turned Beast hated himself, for who could love someone to horrible? He sent everyone in the castle away and destroyed all of the mirrors, isolating himself from the world.

"Miles away, in a nearby town, there was a beautiful woman who lived with her inventor father named Belle. Belle was a smart woman and loved to read stories, something many of the villagers thought was a waste of beauty. Belle dreamed that one day she would leave her town and create her own adventure like the ones in the stories that she reads.

"There was a man in the town that wanted to marry Belle because she was beautiful. He was much like the prince was and was very shallow and selfish. Because he was handsome, the man just assumed that Belle would be delighted to be the wife of someone such as him.

"But Belle saw who the man really was and denied him. She did not want to become the doting housewife the man expected her to be. His pride hurt, the man vowed that Belle would be his wife whether she liked it or not.

"Belle's father, being an inventor, planned to go to a fair where he could present his latest invention. However, while traveling, he got lost and was attacked by wolves. To get away from the wolves, he comes upon the Beast's castle and goes inside. But he soon is discovered by the Beast, who then takes him as a prisoner.

"Belle, worried since her father hasn't come back from the fair, went to go look for him. Deep into the forest, she finds the castle with evidence that he father had gone inside. Going in, she found her father being held captive by a vicious Beast. TO free her father, Belle sacrifices her own freedom so that he father could be free instead.

"The Beast accepted her offer and set her father free. But, instead of putting her in the dungeon, he gives Belle her own room with strict orders to not go into certain parts of the castle. When Belle finds the enchanted rose when exploring a restricted part of the castle, the Beast become and tells Belle to leave the castle. Belle runs away from the castle, but runs into the wolves that attacked her father. But the Beast saves her and brings her back to the castle.

"At the castle, Belle helps heal the injuries that the Beast had gotten saving her. Deciding that the Beast couldn't be that bad, she tries to become friends with the Beast. The Beast, in turn, tries to become friends too. Belle and the Beast become friends, and Belle notices that he is a great person, and is kind and really sweet and that there was a person behind his hideous exterior.

"Belle, looking onto an enchanted mirror that the Beast owned, discovers that he father is lost in the forest looking for her. Belle asks to go and help her father and the Beast lets her go and gives her the mirror so that Belle will always remember him. As she was leaving the castle, the Beast realizes he loves her.

"Belle finds her father and nurses him back to health in the town. When the man that had wanted to marry her heard that she was back, and came up with a plan to get Belle to marry him.

"The man planned on giving Belle's father to the insane asylum, presenting evidence of when Belle had first gone missing and her father said that she had been captured by a horrific beast. But the man planned on 'saving' her father if she agreed to marry him.

"But when he came to her door, Belle said that the beast was real and showed him the Beast through the magic mirror he had given her. She told him that the Beast was really a nice person and that he has become her friend. The man sees that Belle had fallen in love with the Beast, and leads the town to lay siege on the castle, telling them the Beast is a threat, even when Belle insists that he isn't.

"Belle tries to warn the Beast about the attack, but the townspeople got to him before she did, and the Beast was now facing her former suitor. The man injures the Beast badly as he is thrown from the castle, and Belle rushes to the Beast's side, but there is nothing she can do to help him because he is already dying.

"Just as the last petal fell off the enchanted rose, and the Beast breathed his last breath, Belle admitted that she loved the Beast. In a glowing light, the Beast came from the brink of death and transformed back into the handsome Prince. The beast turned prince lived happily with his princess Belle."

Kagome finished her story and glanced over to Rin, whose eyes were sleepily blinking and she yawned one last time, "Thanks, Lady Kagome…" she whispered before the girl went under the blanket of sleep.

~~::~~

**A/N: Ah ha! So you thought I would make you wait! Well, you were wrong! Mwahahaha! I gave you ANOTHER chapter! Because you were so patient! How evil am I? :D**

**So, the story of Beauty and the Beast probably sucked in my retelling, but, hey, go watch the movie. I don't care if it was Disney; I think it's one of my favorites. But I just wanted something to show that Rin and Kagome were forming some kind of bond. **

**And sorry**


	7. I knew he would come!

"Lady Kagome! Wake up!" Rin stage whispered.

Kagome groggily opened her eyes, seeing the little girl across the way looking at her eagerly and little hands clutching the bars. Sitting up, she rubbed the sleepiness out of her eyes, wondering what was so important.

There was a loud boom and the castle trembled. Dust shook loose from the surfaces it had stuck to and filled the air, the little motes drifting in every which way. The little specks stirred furiously as the ever-present oppressive energy from the sorceress surged through the area, echoing the apparent explosion. And as if to echo the sorceress's energy, another, less evil, power surged in response.

Rin looked excited, "Lord Sesshoumaru is coming!" she said, bouncing up and down on the balls of her tiny feet. "I knew he would come!"

Now fully awake and alert, Kagome lifted herself from the floor and stood in her cell, looking wide-eyed at the ceiling of the dungeon, as if it would collapse on her. Rin mirrored the older woman and also looked up, smiling instead of looking scared.

Though she couldn't see through the thick bricks, Kagome could feel half of the battle through the innate miko senses. The malevolent energy of the sorceress's was challenging the other one viciously, crashing into its impenetrable cliff face like furious waves.

So concentrated was she in the invisible battle that she barely noticed the presence she knew as Kagura's approach two completely new auras. Though the new arrivals were still powerful, the clashing energies were dwarfing any others, including the stationary one of Naraku's and the Shikon's.

For what seemed like eons, the two females were silent, Rin patiently waiting, Kagome in awe. As the powers shifted and combated, dust settled on their clothing. Kagome only startled out of her stupor was when a loud clanging resounded from the entrance of the dungeons. A strong breeze of fresh air rushed down and lifted Kagome's slimy hair, and once again stirred the dust motes.

Seconds later Sesshoumaru appeared, white clothing pristine in contrast to the anything-but-pristine area. In his one hand was Tokijin, crackling with energy. Tied to his sash was Tenseiga, bouncing against his impressive armor. Trailing behind him was his pelt and silvery hair. Kagome's already attentive miko energy rose in response to the commanding energy that had been confronting the sorceress's come closer, silently humming under her skin.

Black boots silent, he flashed to Rin's cell and sheathed Tokijin. His face as impassive as ever, Sesshoumaru's pale fingers grasped the metal of the bars, emitted green acid from his claws, and tore them apart with the ease of parting a curtain.

"Lord Sesshoumaru!" Rin gleefully shouted, rushing to him. Sesshoumaru knelt down and put his palm on the side of her face, looking intently at his ward, eyes checking for possible injuries.

"Rin." His icy baritone conveyed little, but the girl looked overjoyed none-the-less.

At that moment, the two other youkai entered and quickly positioned themselves at Sesshoumaru's flanks.

The first had black hair was shorn short, almost military. Dressed in a navy blue shirt over black pants, he practically blended into the shadows in the dungeon. His armor was also a dark shade of navy and in one hand was a dagger, the other a sword.

The second demon's weapon was merely a spear; the tip of it was still stained in someone's blood and a few drops were splattered on his black armor. The demon's brown hair was bound tightly in a rope of a braid, the length of it nearly touching the floor. Similar to his comrade, his pants were black, but his shirt was a forest green color.

"My Lord." Said the one with black hair and a dagger, the tone insistent but polite, as if reminding Sesshoumaru of something.

After a moment more with Rin, Sesshoumaru stood and glanced at Kagome in her cell. Rin, seeing this as some unasked question, said, "That's Lady Kagome! She helped me while you were gone!"

As if that made some sort of decision, Sesshoumaru nodded and ordered to the two other mysterious demons, "Kaage, take Rin. Matsu, the girl." Sesshoumaru then stood and dashed back to the exit, returned the way he came silently, his power still emanating from him.

The shadowed demon sheathed his dagger and gently picked Rin up, handling her like spun glass. Meanwhile, the other demon broke Kagome's bars, without the acid but still just as easily, and picked her up as if she was as light as Rin. Kagome clung to who she assumed was Matsu's black armor and he sped after Sesshoumaru, the other demon, Kaage, not far behind.

**~~::~~**

A/N: Yes! The elusive Sesshoumaru makes an appearance! Only to leave as quickly as he came in! Mwahaha. Don't worry, you'll get more!


	8. Just kill him already!

Exiting from the depths of the dungeons and into the courtyard of Naraku's stolen castle, Sesshoumaru had already engaged in battle with the black-robed sorceress. Tokijin sparked malevolently, clashing with the dark magic sword conjured by the black witch. Though the energy was hostile, the battle itself was almost a dance. Over and over the two opponents clashed, neither foe obtaining any wounds.

The evil energy tested the force and power behind the Sesshoumaru's own powerful energy. The Lord of the Western Lands matched the sorceress's energy each time she upped the ante, but never expended more than he needed, keeping his true power hidden and coiled within him. Kagome still felt her own miko energies thrumming from beneath the surface of her skin, responding to such power.

The stark sunlight of the day burned Kagome's cornea as it struggled to adjust itself to the light. As soon as she could see, Kaage, a dark shadow with a sword in hand and Rin in his arms, streaked across the courtyard-turned-battlefield. The demon disappeared over the rubble of a collapsed fortress wall, ignoring his fighting lord. Kagome's mind sluggishly put together that the now-crumpled wall was the source of the large boom that she had woken up to.

"Can you stand?" Kagome's own demon carrier asked, looking down at her with his startlingly wide brown eyes. After a shaky affirmative nod from the now-free miko, Matsu set her down and went to aid his lord in battle, braid whipping behind him. Spear poised, he threw it at the sorceress's heart.

The aim would have been true if not for a certain wind-witch's interference. Kagura appeared, wearing a new bandage around her middle, and engaged Matsu in a battle, driving him away from the battle between the black lady and Sesshoumaru.

Kagome's attention once again went to Sesshoumaru's battle as a loud cry of outrage reverberated from the sorceress's lips. Finally, Sesshoumaru injured her. The sorceress sprung from the battle and landed on the ground, holding onto a bleeding gash on her arm. Malicious black eyes glared at Sesshoumaru. Cold golden ones stared back.

"How dare you!" The sorceress' shrill and angry voice shouted. "What's so important about that sniveling brat anyway?"

Sesshoumaru, unaffected by the rise in the evil energy around him, stated, "Rin is a ward of the West. She falls underneath its protection."

A sadistic laugh emitted from the sorceress, her eyes glittering with macabre cruelty. "So arrogant! You know, Naraku originally called me here to kill you. However, I think it would be much more fun to see you suffer!" The sorceress said.

"Leiko!" Kagura shouted from across the clearing, pausing in her own battle to reprimand the witch. "Naraku wants him dead! Just kill him already!"

"No! I have a better idea!" Leiko, as the sorceress's name appeared to be, insisted, standing straighter and her black eyes alight with sadistic pleasure. "Last night, I overheard a little priestess telling a story…" Leiko began, sliding her eyes over to where Kagome stood. "And I was inspired." Dread filled Kagome's stomach.

~~::~~

**A/N: Haha. Another cliffhanger. I kinda love these. **


	9. I shall give you this rose

Kagome's stomach had reached the ground, a stone becoming lodged in it. Everything that came next, the rock solidified, became heavier, and it's ragged and sharp edges tore at her innards. Her suffering began before the curse was spoken, because the priestess knew what was going to happen next.

The sorceress's heady, dark energy tainted the area a miserable shade of gray, the aura becoming tangible and was now visible to the eyes. Opposite of an exploding star, the energy was pulled together into a concentrated point in front of the sorceress, the point looking like a black hole that sucked all of the light from around it. With a flourish, the enchantress stated her spell.

"I shall give you this rose…" a thump of energy surged through the clearing, and the sorceress opened her palm just beneath the black hole of her energy. Like in the eye of a hurricane, the furious magic died down, revealing a pristine, white rose. The serenity that such a symbol presented contradicted the foreboding that was the calm before the rest of the storm. "The petals on this rose will fall off, and as the last one falls, you will die."

A quiet sob escaped Kagome's throat. Though she cared little for Inuyasha's hated half-brother, the insurmountable guilt of giving the inspiration to such a despicable spell caused tears to torrent down from her cerulean eyes. Tiny, salty droplets cascaded down her cheeks, and trickled off the bottom of her chin, dampening her filthy clothing.

Unless…" Leiko continued, relishing in the drama that was creating havoc with Kagome's frayed nerves and infuriating Sesshoumaru. "You, Lord Sesshoumaru, must find someone to love, and in return, they must love you back."

Spidery fingers grasped the spiked stem of the bleached rose and tossed the flower at the livid Sesshoumaru. The powerful youkai was frozen to the ground, being held prisoner by the black magic already weaving itself around him and casting the curse.

Still unmoving across the field, Kagura was speechless as Leiko, who Naraku had summoned to do his bidding, disobeyed the orders that her master gave the sorceress and independently devised her own plan. No word of reprimand left the wind-witch's painted lips this time, for she was much too blind-sighted to even form a sound.

Similar to Kagura, Matsu stood stock still. Even his brown hair, hanging down his back in a braid, didn't even sway. His spear was tilted to the side, lax in his grasp, missing the opportunity to defeat his opponent as he watched, dumbfounded, as his lord became cursed.

Leiko, laughed, basking in her dastardly scheme. "But that is not all…"

"No, no, no no…" Kagome whispered, falling to her knees with another sob.

**~~::~~**

**A/N: Oh… just another cliffhanger. :D Again, couldn't resist. I just love cliffhangers. But now, half of the spell has already been cast! And I edit thoroughly on the second half of the curse! To make it so much more enjoyable. **


	10. I shall turn you into a beast!

"I shall turn you into a beast!" The sorceress cried with sadistic glee.

Sesshoumaru lunged at the witch, but it was too late. Midway through his strike, another thrum of dark magic resounded, and Sesshoumaru froze in the air. His steadfast grip on Tokijin loosened and it fell to the ground. Kagura and Matsu forget in their battle, looking to Sesshoumaru, Kagura's blood ran freely from the wound from her side, and a new one on her leg.

Not a single sound made itself know when dark magic silently formed itself around the Western Lord.

Silence.

Sesshoumaru exploded.

An ear-splitting roar deafened, shattering the silence.

Sesshoumaru's power tore the clearing apart, pouring out of his transforming figure in visible red streams. Grass died and soil dried up, cracking and being caught in the gale of power. Wood snapped and walls fell into rubble. Naraku's once formidable fortress was now reduced to dust.

Kagome, from yards away, felt the power that had been fizzling beneath her skin rise, protecting her from the harmful energy. Even surrounded by a globe of her own energy, nothing stopped the clumps of dirt and debris from pelting her form.

But Kagome ignored the insignificant fragments of the earth. She was watching, horrified, at Sesshoumaru transforming into his beast. Her flashback to when she was in Inuyasha's father's tomb was nothing like the utter chaos surrounding her.

That transformation was controlled. Of his own will. This one was being forced, and Sesshoumaru was fighting it with all the power he had. When he felt his snout forming, he willed it to stop. But he kept changing. He felt his hands becoming paws, and then his spine lengthening.

Instead of two feet, he was now on three legs. Instead of cold golden eyes, there were crimson orbs glaring balefully at the sorceress excitedly watching her spell unfold. One by one, each of Sesshoumaru's three paws touched the ground with a small earthquake. Slowly the thickness of Sesshoumaru's red energy dissipated, and finally revealed the final result.

A gigantic, white canine now stood in the courtyard turned disaster site. Two stories above everyone's head, a feral line of predator teeth were bared and growling in anger, vibrating the very air. Green acidic poison dripped freely from the gleaming white razors, and landed near impressive clawed paws. A navy blue crescent moon adorned the forehead of the beast, accompanied by violet stripes on either side of his jaw, the only color on Sesshoumaru's snowy fur.

The mighty beast threw its head back and howled.

**~~::~~**

**A/N: There it is.**


	11. This is so much more fun!

The deep, monstrous bay to the sky of the fearsome and terrible beast would forever hold a place in Kagome. In a language with no words that she could understand, this note that shredded its way into her eardrums communicated outright fury. Sesshoumaru's sane self and had been forcibly quarantined by his basest instincts as they had been let free by the magic of the evil sorceress.

Now, the only thing that registered in the mind of the great Western Lord was pure, unadulterated loathing for the black-robed, violet haired, and blackest of black eyes of the sorceress Leiko were somehow bright in wicked elation.

Though the howl lasted just mere seconds, ringing in Kagome's ears would not stop, and the bestial call endlessly echoed itself off of the walls of the midnight-haired girl's skull. Through the pink haze of her own holy barrier that was protecting her from the harmful youki, Kagome watched Sesshoumaru's next moves.

Quicker than should be possible for a form that was as big as a house, the sorceress was now caught in the poisonous jaws of Sesshoumaru. Green acid harmlessly dripped around the form of Leiko as she protected herself with her magic.

Even from within jaws of death, Leiko laughed, "This is so much more fun!"

Before the strength of the maw could descend on Leiko, she disappeared in one last thump of magic . Angered that his prey had gotten away from him, Sesshoumaru released a ferocious growl and lunged at his next closest enemy, Kagura.

Kagura, already seriously injured in the side by Matsu, tried in vain to get the rampaging demon away from her. A sweeping wave of her fans, and a whirlwind sprouted up around Sesshoumaru, which was utterly useless as now even hurricane-force winds could not have thwarted him.

Matsu, smart enough to realize that his lord was unstoppable at this point, dashed out of the way and appeared near the fallen Kagome, whose protective holy energy was still surrounding her and not letting Matsu get any closer.

Kagura, struck down by sharp claws, stared at the wall of razor teeth hovering over her, acid dripping. Feeling poison droplets hit her skin; Kagura gave a sharp cry, the glowing flecks eroding through the layers of skin to the bone.

Slowly, as the last moments of your life tend to go, Kagura's red eyes saw the razor teeth opening, and heard a roar, then her moments ended, and all she felt until the blackness hit her was incisors tearing through her.

**~~::~~**

**A/N: First, I would like to clear things up. It's been getting really confusing switching from energy, aura, power, and other such adjectives to describe three different types of energies/auras/powers/etc… For Leiko, as a sorceress or an enchantress or witch…, she uses magic. Kagome, as a priestess or miko, uses holy energy or reiki, as I have seen in other pieces of work. And Sesshoumaru, as a demon or youkai, uses demonic powers or youki. So…yeah. Hopefully it will make things simpler for you to read, and me to write. :D **


	12. Lower your shield!

Sesshoumaru, by no means sated by the wind demoness's sudden demise, searched for his next target. In his anger-filled haze, the next threat was a presence that had all but been ignored until now, Naraku's. The evil hanyou's aura had not moved during the last few tumultuous minutes, the Shikon being in the same static state.

Sesshoumaru's beast emitted a deep rumble from its snowy-furred chest, and moved his gigantic paws, each step shaking the ground, going further in the fortress. Not even a notably missing left forepaw hindered his movements. Bounding over a pile of rubble, the form of Sesshoumaru disappeared from view of the courtyard as he was hidden by a separate section of the castle.

Matsu, at his lord's true and terrible form disappearing from sight, was brought from his reverie by his youkai instincts kicking back in. The torn-up ground trembled in a rhythm, matching the footsteps of Sesshoumaru, who was nearing his prey.

Matsu sprinted his way across the battlefield to the miko that he had been put in charge of, attaching his still-bloodied spear to his back. As he neared the liberated woman, he halted just shy of colliding with a shimmering pink barrier surrounding Kagome.

"Lower your shield!" Matsu commanded, wide brown eyes beseeching the still horrified and frozen priestess. "Lower it!"

Dragging her coherent thought from the depths of her terrified deer-in-the-headlights brain, Kagome somewhat got a handle on her power and drew it within her. Even though she had never done such a thing before, the witnessing of a giant youkai canine unleashing its massive amounts of youki awakened Kagome's miko instincts inside.

As soon as her barrier was low enough, Matsu dove in and dashed off, Kagome once again clinging to his black armor. Kagome's blue eyes burned, having not blinked them since the sorceress, Leiko, had cast her spell. Salt from her tears drew in the moisture from her eyes, leaving them parched, even as a steady stream of the salty droplets continued to trickle.

With a deliberate thought, Kagome closed her eyes. Even behind the supposed darkness of her lids, replays of the last hour relentlessly plagued her mind. It was a full minute before she opened her eyes once more.

The unbearably strong emotions of guilt and dread simultaneously wreaked havoc on her conscience. Even as her brain shut down to restart and body went lax in her demon carrier's arms. Sapphire eyes closed once again.

**~~::~~**


	13. What a pity

Water trickled from hairline cracks in the walls of the cavern. The water gathered in a shallow stream meandering its way deeper into the earth, reflecting the tiny twinkling blue lights that came from small, glowing insect youkai burrowed into the ceiling, causing an imitation of a night sky. The colony of insects dimmed, the liquid mirror disappearing once again into the darkness so thick that it was the only thing able to be seen.

Dark magic thumped in the blackness. A splash was heard, and then a cackling. Now hovering in the dark were two glittering orbs, impossibly darker than the lightless atmosphere around them. Sharp malicious notes of laughter reverberated and echoed off the stone walls as the insects were once more being infused with light. However, the once twinkling blue was now tainted into an evil purple.

A pale face appeared around the two dark orbs, and framing the face, long violet hair. Soaking itself in the stream were the cackling figure's black robes. Suddenly the figure stopped laughing, however the expression kept the morbid unadulterated happiness. A pale hand disappeared into the folds of the robe and pulled out a small hand mirror.

"Leiko! What have you done?" An angry voice originating from the mirror raged.

The figure laughed again. "Naraku…" Leiko began in a chiding tone, talking to the evil hanyou's visage in to mirror. "Did you really think that when you summoned me from the Underworld that I would obey your commands?"

Naraku's face twisted into fury, "I freed you from the Underworld! You should have bowed down to my every whim!"

Leiko let out another peal of laughter, "And why should I have done that?"

"The ancient text said that you would be indebted to me! That you were bound to my command!"

Leiko interrupted his tirade with another chuckle, "And you believed those texts you found in the ruins of that old fortress? The one who wrote those journals, or 'ancient texts' as you call them, was merely a fool who believed anything I had sent to him in a dream. I made him believe that if he freed me from the Underworld that I would be his 'forever loyal servant.' Even knowing that the reason I had been confined in the Underworld was because I had lied to and deceived the very ruler of the Underworld himself, he believed me!" Leiko threw her head back to laugh, "And so did you!"

An angry roar was dimly heard from the mirror. "Ah…" She sobered, "I see that Lord Sesshoumaru has finished his meal." Leiko smirked. "You should leave the castle while you still can."

Naraku growled, "You witch! You know I can't! Summoning you left me with no energy! Even the Jewel can't give me enough power to move out of this room!"

"What a pity." Leiko commented around a wide, Cheshire, grin.

"Why did you curse him! Why did you make me believe that you were my servant!" Naraku shouted.

"For fun, of course! Getting that little brat was the only favor I bestowed upon you. The only one I had planned to give you before I left to do whatever I wanted. But once I had heard declaration of the Western Lord's power, I stayed to get my entertainment. And that tale the little priestess told gave me wonderful inspiration!" Leiko crowed.

Another howl and a loud rumble sounded from the mirror. Then Naraku's screams were heard. Leiko watched the scene in her mirror like it was a rather humorous play. She watched as Sesshoumaru devoured the hanyou, laughing at parts that she thought were funny.

When it was over, Leiko tucked the mirror back into her robes and finally stepped out of the stream. Still smiling, she followed the water shimmering with purple deeper into the cavern.

**~~::~~**

**A/N: I hope this cleared up some questions about how my little evil sorceress came to be :D **


	14. I'll do anything to fix my mistake

Kagome cried while she slept. Her mind had struggled to cope with the guilt that ate at it, and took nearly two days before she opened her eyes.

Above her, she could make out the now-familiar canopy of a forest at night, the boughs still clinging onto its green leaves before the beginning of fall stole the refreshing color and changed it. She heard the crackling of a fire and a breeze playing with the trees. A little farther away, the childish and happy voice of Rin could be heard talking about some yellow flower she had found.

Sitting up slowly, the miko's blue eyes took in the campsite. As did her reiki, which was still recovering from its expenditure from blocking Sesshoumaru's youki and the sorceress's magic. Closest to her, she saw Matsu, his back turned to her and idly turning a spit of meat over the sizable fire. The demon's wide brown eyes were trained on Rin across the fire, leaning against the side of the brown dragon, AhUn, and speaking animatedly to a complacent Jaken covered in a few flowery crowns. She noticed that Sesshoumaru and the darker demon, Kaage, were missing.

Kagome also noticed that she was in a change of clothes, and clean. Deciding not to linger on the thought of how, she looked back up to Rin.

"Wouldn't this be so pretty in Lady Kago—" Rin started, holding a tiny blue flower, however, when she looked over to where Kagome was, she saw that her friend was sitting up and awake. "Lady Kagome!" The girl shouted, racing over to Kagome as fast as she could.

Matsu, realizing where this was going, gently caught the rambunctious girl before she could bowl Kagome over with a hug. "Lady Rin," Matsu said, "Remember that the miko is still recovering."

Rin immediately looked cowed and more sedately walked the last few steps to Kagome, who had opened her arms to catch the child, a reflex reaction from having done so with Shippo so many times.

"Hi there, Rin. I'm so glad to see you're safe." Kagome said sincerely, squeezing the girl.

Suddenly the girl took Kagome's hand and tugged her toward where AhUn and Jaken were sitting, "Come over here, Lady Kagome! I picked some flowers for you while you were sleeping!" Rin enthused; being patient with Kagome as she slowly got her feet underneath of her and followed where Rin led.

Kagome smiled and listened to Rin's dialogue, happily adorning the flower tiaras and jewelry as the girl's request. Soon, Matsu was serving supper and asking Rin to go to bed. Rin had requested a story, but Kagome said that it was too late in the night to tell one, just barely keeping her composure. As soon as the girl was asleep, Jaken having fallen asleep a while ago, Kagome made her way over to the sleeping mat provided for her and let the façade fall.

"Where is Sesshoumaru?" Kagome asked Matsu, looking forlornly at the ground. Tears threatened to fall once more, guilt furiously trying to force them to fall.

"My Lord is nearby, trying to break the curse." Matsu said, staring at the miko. "His power alone is not enough to break it. The sorceress's power was formidable."

"It was." Kagome whispered, remembering how her miko energy had responded.

Matsu spoke next, "You have formidable power also." Kagome's blue eyes flicked up to the brown haired demon. "You are one of the most powerful priestesses I have ever come across." Kagome saw in the demon's eyes a spark of determination.

"What're you getting at?" Kagome asked, wary at what he would say next.

Matsu leaned forward and flicked his braid over his shoulder, connecting his wide eyes with Kagome's blue ones, "I said that Lord Sesshoumaru's power _alone_ is not enough to break the curse. However, with _two _formidable powers, the curse might crumble."

Kagome's mind snatched onto this little piece of hope that Matsu offered. At the urging of her guilt, action was required. She had to _do_ something. She was the one responsible, and now she had a chance to fix it. It was the same as with the jewel. She broke it, and she's been fixing it ever since.

"I'll do it. I'll do anything to fix my mistake." Kagome eagerly agreed to Matsu's offer.

Matsu smiled, a row of human-looking white teeth revealing themselves, and then looked confused. "What mistake?"

Tears once again gathered into her eyes, giving the sapphire orbs a glassy sheen, "I —I told a story to Rin the one night she was there. It was a story about Beauty and the Beast, and the witch, Leiko, must have overheard it." Kagome sniffled and scrubbed an errant tear from her cheek.

"I still do not see why Leiko's actions could be your mistake." Matsu said.

"Because I should've known better! I was in Naraku's castle! I knew that he'd use anything he could against me!" Kagome shouted, and then quickly went quiet when Rin mumbled in her slumber.

Matsu shook his head, "Naraku and that sorceress could have used anything for inspiration, whether it had been your story or not." Kagome was about to protest, but the youkai cut her off, "Your energy is still recovering, sleep." The demon demanded.

"But—!" The demon gave her a 'this isn't up for debate' look that her mother gave her when she didn't want to take her cough medicine.

Taking a deep breath, she did realize that the reiki that had been used at the fortress and the energy expended to help her mind recover were not at its fullest. Lying down on the mat, she pulled the blanket over her and shut her eyes.


	15. I suggest

Kagome could feel Sesshoumaru long before she could see him. She was glad that his youki did not feel nearly as livid as the last time that she saw the cursed lord. Matsu, with Kagome being carried, walked into a large clearing where the Western Lord's form was lying regally in the center. Matsu set Kagome down onto her feet, and Kaage appeared next to them silently from the shadows that his attire and armor so easily blended with. Giving a nod of acknowledgment to Matsu in greeting, he only gave a curious glance to Kagome.

Kagome compared Sesshoumaru from when she had seen him last. For one thing, he was not the raving and rampant canine from before. If not for the red eyes, huge size, and three lethal paws, he could have even looked docile. But the very fact that the crimson eyes were trained on the miko and that even when lying down the form towered at least three more feet over her, and those razor claws, by merely resting on the ground, had dug trenches into the earth, that Kagome banished all thought of the beast being anywhere near tame.

However, one thing did stand out from all of the rest. Glowing with a tainted light, that only she could see, was the nearly complete Shikon jewel. Resting amidst those deadly claws. Sesshoumaru's crimson eyes knew what she was looking at, and he flicked his paw, sending the tainted near-sphere through the air to land in front of Kagome. Quickly, Kagome snatched the jewel into her hand. As soon as the Shikon touched the smooth skin of her palm, all impurity was banished; driven out by her reiki, and the hue of the shimmering Shikon was once again pink.

"Thank you, Sesshoumaru." Kagome murmured, having been around dog demons enough to know that he could hear her. She was relieved that Sesshoumaru had never been interested in the jewel, and had given up the powerful trinket without hesitation.

However, the appearance of the jewel begged a question, "How did you get it from Naraku?"

A series rumbles and sharp barks were emitted from Sesshoumaru. Though the sound was still terrifying, Kagome knew that it wasn't meant to threaten, but to communicate.

Kaage, beside Kagome, understood the strange language and translated for his lord. "He says that he found Naraku, weaker that he usually was, and killed him. The Jewel was with him."

"Naraku… he's dead?" said Kagome disbelievingly. The look that Sesshoumaru gave her, even in a canine face, clearly said 'I do not repeat myself.'

Again, before Kagome could speak, Matsu addressed his lord. Taking a few steps closer, he lowered to a knee and put his right hand over his heart, with his left hand, he took his spear from its place on his back and drove the tip of it into the ground. "My Lord, I suggest a way to break your curse."

Matsu looked cautiously up to Sesshoumaru, who didn't move. Seeing no reason not to, Matsu continued, "My Lord, the Miko Kagome has power that, though is hardly comparable to your own, could help you to break the curse."

A harsh growl stopped Matsu from continuing, and then there were another series of sharp barks.

"He refuses the idea, you are not powerful enough." Kaage translated.

"We have not seen her true power!" Matsu said, not needing a translator. Kagome felt awkward with watching them talk about her, but didn't interrupt. "When you transformed, the barrier that she erected was not only strong, but she had sustained it for the entirety of the transformation. She is willing to help."

Sesshoumaru rumbled again. "He says he will not accept charity."

Kagome, used to how stubborn a canine demon – or half demon—can be when pride was on the line, finally spoke up, "Sesshoumaru." The three demons looked at her. Nervous, Kagome cleared her throat. "Lord Sesshoumaru. If you won't accept my help because you think its charity, I'll give it to you in payment for defeating Naraku and retrieving the Shikon."

There was a moment of silence. Then Sesshoumaru turned his crimson gaze back to Matsu and emitted a long monologue of rumbles, growls, and barks.

"He accepts. However, he says that your reiki is still recovering, so you will rest until you are at your full strength. While you recover, Lord Sesshoumaru wants us to help you learn more about your reiki."

"Very well, My Lord." said Matsu, gratitude and relief inflecting in his tone.


	16. Where is Lord Sesshoumaru?

Kagome wondered about the existence of these two new demons in her life. So far, Matsu had been helpful and respectful, something that she had not encountered often of youkai in her experience. Usually, they were all demanding the shards from her or placing magical crowns on her head that made her want to marry them.

However, she had not seen much of Kaage, both from his extreme talent with blending into the shadow of almost everything, and from his mysterious aloofness that was at least on par with Sesshoumaru's. This made sense, since Kaage's very name meant 'shadow'.

As for where they came from, Kagome knew that Sesshoumaru probably had some kind of Western Court, but it must be a very exclusive or secretive one. In her experience from the future, you know who exactly the leader of the country is, and then all of their denominations until you get to your county or district officer. But of course that was the modern-day, human way of doing things. She doubted that youkai courts were a democracy or a republic. She suspected they were some kind of monarchy, seeing as Sesshoumaru is now the Lord, after his father, Inu no Taisho.

Maybe she could get Matsu to explain the youkai government; the history books in her era only covered the human feudal system of the past. And the long-haired demon seemed nicer than most.

Just as she finished that thought, Matsu and Kagome arrived back into their campsite, crossing from dense foliage to softer grass. Rin, sitting comfortably in the grass, was peacefully weaving the stems of flowers into yet another crown to add to the pile of the eight or so beside her. Jaken dozed behind AhUn, who had one head watching the pair enter, and the other keeping a steady watch on the little girl.

"Lady Kagome!" Rin squealed, dropping her creation and rushing to hug the blue-eyed girl around the waist as soon as Matsu set her down. Dropping her arms, the girl looked around, and then looked up to Kagome with a disappointed frown.

"Where is Lord Sesshoumaru?"

"Um…" Kagome stalled, not knowing why Sesshoumaru had stayed so far away from where his pack resided.

Matsu stepped in, kneeling down to eye-level with the Rin, "He does not wish to frighten you with his true form."

Rin's frown deepened, "But I would never be afraid of Lord Sesshoumaru!" she declared.

"Lady Rin—" Matsu started, but the girl interrupted, leaving the demon and Kagome shocked at the girl's sudden boldness.

"No! I want to see Lord Seshoumaru!" Little fists planted themselves onto her sides, and she glared headstrongly up at the two older beings. It would have been laughable, if not for the deadly serious face she put on that looked too old for her young age.

Neither of the adults said a thing, so shocked were they that a normally subservient little girl was showing such assertiveness. Rin, getting no reaction from the two, strode over to AhUn and climbed onto their unsaddled back. "Take me to Lord Sesshoumaru, AhUn." The girl demanded, getting a secure hold on their mane.

The dragon obeyed.

Kagome responded first, maternal instincts warning against a child in a potentially dangerous situation, "Rin!" She yelled at the girl that was now in the air and traveling in the direction of Sesshoumaru. "_Rin!" _She shouted more sternly from her place on the ground, feeling for everything like her mother. "Come down _right now!" _

"I'm going to see Lord Sesshoumaru, _right now._" The girl retorted back, with a new insolent attitude.

Stunned that the little girl had suddenly developed this defiance, Kagome just stood there for a moment. Then she called out to the dragon instead before they got too far away to hear, "AhUn! Bring her back!" A roar was her reply, and the dragon did not falter in its course.

"Matsu!" She forcefully said to the demon beside her. "Order AhUn to come back!"

The youkai finally resurfaced to the situation at hand, "I cannot. The dragon only obeys Lord Sesshoumaru and Lady Rin."

Angry, she turned back to the receding dragon with the daring child on its back, "_Rin!" _she called out one last time, "You are going to be in _so much trouble!"_

_~~::~~_

**A/N: I know, it's been a while. But I had summer plans that involved no computer access. I hope you like this chapter. I had fun writing it!**_  
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	17. I missed you!

High above the ground, Rin eagerly took in the expanse of land from her perch on AhUn. The warmth from the youkai steed below her counteracted the wind whipping by, reddening her cheeks and tugging at her lopsided ponytail.

Rin had waited very patiently, she thought, for her Lord to come. She was so excited when she saw Lady Kagome and Matsu leave earlier that morning; she believed that they were going to retrieve Lord Sesshoumaru. When Kaage had carried her from the cold cell and away, she knew that something happened to her Lord. But she was patient and was happy and waited for Lord Sesshoumaru to come, like she always did.

When they came back without him, she was really disappointed. She asked politely where he was and why he was away, and they told her that he was away because he thought she would be afraid! Rin could not understand what about her Lord could be so frightening for her. She knew that others should be very afraid of her Lord because they did not know him, and he didn't know them, but Rin herself had nothing to fear. She was his ward, and he was her Guardian.

She decided to go to Lord Sesshoumaru instead of waiting. If Lady Kagome and Matsu thought that she would be afraid, she would show them that they were wrong!

Sooner that she thought, AhUn began a slow descent. Rin enthusiastically looked on the ground. Spying a big clearing with a big white dog in it, Rin knew that it was her lord.

"Lord Sesshoumaru! Lord Sesshoumaru!" She shouted, sitting up more on AhUn and waving frantically. Rin saw the figure in the clearing shift, standing up. AhUn had gotten closer, and was now heading in a steeper decline, aiming to land on the edge of the clearing; meanwhile Sesshoumaru turned toward the arriving pair, and had frozen, crimson eyes locking onto Rin.

Rin was silent. The child's head was tilted to the side and her arm was still stuck mid-wave. Neither form moved as AhUn landed in front of the demonic canine.

Sesshoumaru refused to stir, not wanting to scare his tiny ward. Despite all of his prejudice and barriers he had built to keep what he considered weak out, the child had wormed her way around them and situated herself comfortably into his life. Surprisingly, he had no desire to expel Rin from her place near him. From that very first pulse of Tenseiga, he knew that his destiny was somehow, in some way, tethered to the girl.

They sat at that stale mate for five, agonizingly long, minutes. Rin was the first to move. In those five minutes, she had decided that though her lord did appear frightening at first, she would expect no less magnificence or grandeur of Lord Sesshoumaru's true form. His fur reminded her of the soft pelt on his shoulder that he lets her use as a pillow when she has nightmares, and his markings were much the same as in his humanoid form. Despite the obvious differences, like his eyes, between the two forms, Rin clearly saw Lord Sesshoumaru. Making her decision, Rin clumsily lowered herself from AhUn.

With fast feet and a happy smile on her face, she sprinted to her lord and disappeared into the fur on his chest. "Lord Sesshoumaru! I've missed you!"


	18. I'm not scared of you!

It was quite a sight to see what Matsu and Kagome finally entered the clearing. They stood dumbfounded, watching the little girl practically scold a creature whose fang was as big as she was. Rin didn't even acknowledge the two newcomers in the area, so intent was she on her speech.

"I'm not scared of you," Rin told the canine quite frankly, "to think that I would be scared is silly, Lord Sesshoumaru!"

Much to the surprise of those that were present, Sesshoumaru did nothing. There were no decapitations, maiming, or the violence that one usually expected from the lord when someone had dared comment that he was anything less than perfection.

In fact, Sesshoumaru resembled a statue. You couldn't even see the rise and fall of the chest that would indicate breathing. Only when the breezes drifted by, picking up and playing with tendrils of snowy fur, could anyone tell that the giant, monstrous form was not made of marble or granite.

When the girl finished her speech, she skipped back up to her lord and snuggled once again into the fur of his chest. Sesshoumaru, out of the three other beings that were present, was the first to move. He lowered his head, and rubbed the side of his violet-streaked cheek against his small ward, letting out a gust of a sigh that relaxed the tensed muscles that held him so stationary.

Kagome, still standing at the edge of the clearing with Matsu, belatedly recognized the gesture as a form of doggy-hug, and couldn't help the girlish, "Aw…" that whispered from her lips at the tender sight. Sesshoumaru and Rin, in their own world, continued to ignore the other two.

"Lady Kagome," Matsu said, "perhaps we should get started on your training."

Kagome nodded, reading between the lines and agreeing to give the girl and her dog more time for some foster father and surrogate daughter bonding.

Kagome walked quietly beside a quiet Matsu until they reentered the campsite. Predictably, Jaken was still sleeping, now merely slumped over into the grass instead of leaning on his dragon-pillow, the Two Headed Staff was still in his green clutches like a teddy bear.

"What do you know of your reiki?" Matsu started, adopting a peculiar teacher vibe.

"Um…" Kagome started, not really prepared for her answer. Not that she knew much about her priestess powers anyway. "It purifies demons and the taint in the Shikon. Um… I can also charge objects with the purifying energy. I charge my arrow when I shoot it, and it usually gets the job done. I tried charging a rock the same way but it didn't take to the charge as well…" Tentatively, she glanced up to Matsu, expecting to see a disapproving scowl that many of her modern era teachers gave her when she was woefully behind on a subject. Instead, she saw a blank mask that was reminiscent of Sesshoumaru's. Apparently, they had taken the same class on their poker faces.

At a nod, she continued divulging her meager knowledge, moving her gaze from Matsu to her feet. "I can sense when another power is near. Like a demon or another priestess, but that's only if I'm concentration or it's really big. I can also sense the shards of the Shikon no Tama is somewhat the same way. Um…" Kagome wracked her brain for anything else that she knew, "Oh! I know that you can put up barriers and seal things, but I don't know how to do that stuff. The one barrier I've been able to do with any success was the one you saw."

Finished, she continued inspecting the dirt that was at her feet, waiting for Matsu to say something. She was almost done counting the leaves on a nearby sprout when he spoke.

"As I have said before, you have an unusual amount of reiki for a miko. If you were a youkai, you power would be on the same level as a daiyoukai's, which is the classification in which Lord Sesshoumaru resides in." Here, Matsu gave the woman sitting across him an appraising look.

"I see that most of the knowledge you have has been learned instinctually, and not through active practicing and studying. Having been able to do so is a natural talent in controlling your reiki." Now he gave he a firm look, "Which is fortunate because many a being has been consumed by their own power because of their lack of control."

Kagome nervously shifted her weight. "Come." Matsu said in a clipped tone, reminiscent once again of Sesshoumaru.

**A/N: This chapter was such a pain in the butt. I reworded and edited and then I just decided to split it into two chapters. So, I should have the next one out soon. Should. It just might prove to be more difficult. Other than that, though I've been having some kind of writing constipation for this story, I've been plagued by a lot of plot bunnies for other stories, and a wonderful inspiration of turning my Along the Way into something I'd like to start working on again. I also want to make my chapters for Last Petal a bit longer, so it might take more time to finish. So, anyway, enjoy this chapter! **


	19. Concentrate

Matsu led her to the grassy area that her bedding was set on, and with a wave of his hand, instructed her to sit down on it. Folding her legs, she stiffly awaited further instruction.

"Since your knowledge is incomplete, we shall start at the beginning." Matsu sat cross legged in front of her. "First, you must find where your power is…" He looked for the right word, looking slightly up and narrowing his eyes, "…stored. Where it is in your soul, where you draw your power from."

"Okay… I'll try." Kagome said, "What do I do?"

"Well," Matsu started, "do you know where you draw your power from when you are charging you arrows?"

"Not really… I've never really paid attention before." Matsu looked peeved before schooling his expression again.

"Then you must concentrate. Take this." He held out his hand, which suddenly held a medium sized rock. "Charge it with your power. Concentrate on where your power originates."

Like the rock would suddenly sprout a mouth and bite her, Kagome carefully took the rock from Matsu. At a certain look from Matsu at her reluctance to imbue the piece of earth with her powers, Kagome took a breath and closed her eyes.

Like when she was standing before Naraku with Sango in his clutches, she felt her power flow to the rock. But she felt the hard gaze of the demon across from her and couldn't focus. Matsu realized this and released a long-suffering sigh. "Concentrate." He intoned.

She did, so instead of just cutting off the power and letting go of the arrow, or rock as this case may be, she traced the feeling of her flowing reiki down her arm, and somewhere just below her sternum, and above her stomach. The space was confusing. For one, it was huge, and anatomically should not have fit where it was. Another reason was because she couldn't believe it took so long for her not to realize it was there.

"It's right here." Kagome murmured, lifting her free hand and pointing to where her power is.

"Good. Now, how is it getting to the rock? How are you directing the flow?" Matsu instructed, equally as quiet.

She inspected her reiki closer, probing it and finding the spot where the tendril of her power separated from the whole. It was like a faucet, where she could turn it on or off. Testing this theory of a faucet, she tried increasing the flow. She could feel the rock trembling in her hand.

Matsu hissed in front of her, and she opened her eyes only to abruptly close them again. The shine of her power charging the rock was blinding. Her eyes squinted, to see through the brightness, she saw Matsu across the clearing.

The demon tried to maintain a clam tone, even as his very instincts screamed at him to run away from the polar opposite of the youki he possessed. "Draw the power back in. Reverse it. Or it will explode."

Understanding what he meant, because she's had a few arrows literally blow up in her face, Kagome tried reversing the flow, where instead of out, it went back in. Though it was harder, she achieved it, and watched amazedly as the glow dimmed, and then the holy energy dissipated and then left the rock as normal as it was when she began. Except that there was now a crack splitting the rock into two uneven parts. Twitching her fingers, the halves separated and became two rocks.

"Whoa." Kagome whispered amazedly

She felt fatigue sweep over her. Suddenly losing strength in her hand, she let the rocks tumble out of her hand. Her head felt appallingly heavy, and she felt her back slump, and tiredly noticed that the ground was coming closer.

Triggered by another expenditure of reiki, a week of sleep deprivation decided that at that moment to free itself and shut down her body. She was already unconscious when Matsu caught the young miko's skull from colliding with the ground.

**A/N: See? Pain in the butt. At least it's sooner than the last one. Now, I've got even more chapters to write, and I wish that my imaginings would just leap from my head and appear perfectly into words. **


	20. How deceivingly innocent

Before the light of the crackling fire, Sesshoumaru lounged, flickering fire turned sections of his silver coat gold. Lying on his only forepaw was Rin, sleeping peacefully and snuggling into his fur. AhUn and Jaken were near their lord, sleeping also. At Lord Sesshoumaru's request, they had moved the camp to the larger clearing.

Sesshoumaru looked around the camp that his group had set for the night. On the other side of the fire were was a slumbering Kagome, somewhere in the trees was Kaage. The miko was in a deep sleep, and probably would be for many more hours. Sesshoumaru guessed at least a full day. Her reiki was still strong, but greatly fatigued. Her body was even more drained than her power.

She had already survived about two weeks with little to no sleep, if his half-brother's desperation was anything to go by from his visit just shy of a week ago. Even with the two days of slumber that she woke from that morning, her body still had a long way to go before she was back to health.

Looking at the situation from the outside, Sesshoumaru acknowledged that the amount of care he was giving to his half-brother's 'shard detector' was slightly out of character. However, Sesshoumaru was the type of person where if they were considered underneath his protection, even temporarily, they would leave his protection better than when they entered it. At the moment, if she left now, he would be disgraced.

Looking at her, the ribs stuck out disgustingly from her skin, even showing through the layer of clothing she had on. Though he ordered that she at least be fed whatever she could eat, it apparently had not been much. Kagome's skin was sallow and stretched taught over her cheekbones.

Though he did not let on, he was surprised that Kagome was up and about as she was for the few hours. He deduced it down to adrenaline and the reiki, since the holy energy was naturally prone toward healing. Sesshoumaru planned that the next morning that they return to the Western Fortress, so that his ward could get a thorough examining by the finest healers, and the miko could get to recovering sooner rather than later.

There was movement on his paw, and he was interrupted from his machinations by Rin turning over in her sleep to snuggle deeper into his fur. Sesshoumaru's eyes drifted to in front of him, where a lightly glowing bud sat harmlessly.

Blood red eyes inspected the white rose, concentrated so hard on it, that if it could, it would have burst into flame. He wished it would, and take the curse along with it.

"_How deceivingly innocent,"_ were the snide thoughts of the great Western Lord. The bud was just unfurling, and gave an onlooker a glimpse of the equally bleached inner petals. There were only wickedly long thorns that even hinted at the dark curse cast upon it. Even now, he could feel the impossibly strong tendrils of that evil sorceress' magic tying him to such a miniscule plant.

"My Lord." Matsu murmured quietly, nonetheless bringing the powerful demon's gaze away from the rose to rest on the form of his companion suddenly leaning against a nearby tree. "What do you plan to do?"

For the moment, he stayed silent, and moved his eyes to locate his other demon companion. Kaage, true to his avian origins, was perched on a low branch hanging over the campsite. Shadows flickered over his face in rhythm with the crackling fire, reflecting in the raven demon's dark navy blue eyes. Said eyes were focused sharply onto Sesshoumaru and Matsu, telling him that he was equally curious as to what his lord was going to do.

The two were close and trusted allies of his. The three of them having been introduced to the demon society at nearly the same time; they had gone through much together. They were nearly the same level of youkai that he was, and were practically raised to be close allies.

Matsu was from a powerful deer herd in the forests of the West. Matsu's father had been a close advisor to the Inu no Taisho, and therefore, they had known each other from birth. Matsu was the most sociable of the trio. Which was saying little, since the three mainly associated themselves with, well, themselves.

Kaage was introduced to him through Matsu nearly a century later, having made friends with him because Matsu's mother socialized with Kaage's. The somber boy fit seamlessly into the dynamic that was Sesshoumaru, Kaage, and Matsu. But he did have a pension for seeing bad outcomes and considering them heavily before acting. As young boys, this trait was rather constricting as there was always going to be down sides to anything they wanted to do with the little freedom they had. However, as ruling adults, this trait had rubbed off and made them weigh courtly decisions with equal caution.

Sesshoumaru, though he would deny it if asked, considered them something akin to friends.

In the present, Matsu and Kaage still awaited and answer. Quietly as possible, to not wake Rin, he rumbled, "Tomorrow, we head to the Western Fortress."

Matsu rolled his wide eyes, "That was not what I meant." Sesshoumaru knew this.

"He does not know what he is going to do yet." Kaage commented from his perch. This earned him a glare from the inu, and a smirk from the deer, which the raven returned slyly.

**A/N: I really like my OCs. They kind of have personalities of their own, and they're really fun to write. Also, I have discovered these FANTASTIC musicians called the Vitamin String Quartet. I've been listening to them for hours. It's what I listened to while writing this! Also, my laptop charger broke and I've not been able to access my documents, so I apologize. Other than that, enjoy!**


	21. Seventeen Days

It was day seventeen. Seventeen days since he last saw Kagome, almost to the hour. The sun was setting, a fantastic explosion of warm color. But Inuyasha felt cold.

In his life, he had encountered much heartbreak. He was only twenty years old when his mother died, which was only about four in hanyou years. His first love, Kikyou, sealed him to a tree, died, was resurrected, betrayed him, and was still only walking the earth by stealing souls. And now, Kagome, whom he considered his best friend, and had recently begun to feel something a little deeper, was gone. Supposedly dead.

Inuyasha released a sardonic smile, _"Supposedly? She _is _dead, idiot."_ Inuyasha kept no hope in his heart that Kagome had survived the last two weeks with Naraku. No one could. To keep any hope would just hurt him more. He had learned well from Kikyou.

Something tickled his knuckle. Lethargically, he turned his head to see that the breeze had blown a broken twig with green leaves attached up to his hand. Delicately, he picked up the plant in his claws.

"Seventeen days." He murmured, as if the forsaken part of a tree had asked how long she had been kidnapped, and he was giving it an answer.

Canine ears twitched, angling themselves to the approaching sound of swishing monk's robes and the jangling of metal rings. Miroku entered the clearing where Inuyasha sat beneath Goshinboku.

"Inuyasha. I am aware that you are a half demon, but you must eat." Sorrow and exhaustion permeated the tones of the monk's usually soothing voice. There were a few minutes of silence, in which Inuyasha gave no indication that he had heard Miroku, and let the twig slip from his grasp and drift back down to ground, to once again roll along with the breeze.

A loud chirping of a bird overhead broke the silence. Miroku released a longsuffering sigh, which might have broken into a quiet sob at the end. "Please, Inuyasha." The monk begged. If the hanyou had been looking at something other than the stars that were now becoming bright, he would have seen tears in violet eyes. "Kagome," his voice was strained and broke as he spoke her name, "won't want you to starve yourself."

Inuyasha noted that this friend still used present tense, as if there was still of possibility that she was coming back from the dead. Inuyasha pitied him. Physically, Inuyasha was younger than the man, but he was approaching the completion of a century of life, excluding the fifty years he had spent on a tree. He had seen people come and go. He mostly saw them going. Leaving. Never coming back.

But Inuyasha didn't have it in him to crush that hope in the monk. Finally, golden eyes appraised the monk, and saw the nearly defeated slope of his back. If he were to say that she was never coming back, it just might have been the last straw that broke him.

He didn't want to lose another friend. He didn't think he could. Slowly, and only half aware of what he was doing, he stood up and slowly walked to Kaede's hut, Miroku following at a sedate pace. Entering the structure, he smelled food, and the scent of blood and tears.

Kirara was resting in the corner, in her small kitten form. White bandages, spotted here and there with crimson of where she still bled, encased her small body. Sango was no further away than six inches from her feline companion, eyes bloodshot, body trembling, and gaze glassy. She had not spoken since she lost hope of finding Kagome, except for in her nightmares, where she screams _"It should have been me!" _

Shippo was the worst of all. Not only had he lost his mother, but his second mother as well. He did not sleep, bathe, eat, or speak. Anyone who tried to get him to do any of those was rewarded with either apathy, or incessant screaming and clawing. He sometimes mumbled to himself. But as soon as you caught him doing it, he would fall silent once again and retreated back into his catatonic state. You usually found him perched in the rafters, green eyes wide and bloodshot as the small fox looked at everything from on high.

Being a full demon, even a young one, he did not need the nourishment as often, or the sleep. But that did not detract from the fact that if something didn't change soon, he would die.

When they all woke up from that hellish night, they postponed their search for Kagome only as long to take care of the immediate injuries before spreading out across the country to call in all favors, IOUs, and venture into previously unexplored areas in order to find their friend. Inuyasha had even braved going to his half-brother to ask if he knew where she was. He even ventured into Kouga's pack to ask him to search for her.

Their search turned up nothing, and they all returned to the village to patch themselves up, and wonder what they were going to do without Kagome being the glue to hold them together, and the key to defeating Naraku and purifying the jewel.

The thing was, Sango would still pursue the defeat of Naraku, and Kagome's kidnapping was just another one of her family members that had been felled by the evil hanyou. Miroku would follow anywhere Sango went, also avenging his friend. Shippo might go with them. Kirara was a given. But where did that leave Inuyasha?

He could continue with his friends, vowing to kill Naraku for stealing yet another of his mikos. But what was the point? She would still be dead. The jewel would still just cause problems because no one would be there to purify it, and a wish on an unpurified Shikon would only wreak havoc.

Deftly, he took a bowl of some food offered by Kaede, and moved to sit in a corner. He stared at the chunks of meat floating in broth and rice, not thinking anything. Until a though snuck up on him. Why eat? Why not just die? It would solve most of his problems. Kagome wasn't coming back from the dead, so why can't he just join her? Kikyou would soon be there as well. Sango and Miroku were human, and led relatively short lives. He could wait for them. His mother would be there, along with his father. And by the looks of it, Shippo was well on his way to an early grave as well. The longer he thought about it, the more the idea appealed to him. Naraku would no longer be a problem, because who cared for the happenings in the realm of the living when you were no longer there?

"Eat." Miroku's voice carried from his seat near Sango.

In his palm, the once-warm bowl of food had gone chilly. Not that he cared anymore. He didn't need to eat; he was going to die soon. He was going to tell his friend so, but a whirlwind swept the words from his mouth and the bowl out of his hand to splash on the floor.

Kouga appeared, panting and blue eyes bright, and obviously fatigued. It was the most life the group had seen in days, and came as a slight shock, so no one moved but Shippo, who hopped to a different rafter to get a better vantage point to see the visitor.

"Naraku…dead. Kagome…not." Kouga passed out.

**A/N: Wow. Most depressing thing I've ever written. I hadn't started this chapter with Inuyasha having suicidal thoughts, but it just sort of fell that way. But in all seriousness, suicide is never a solution to anything. EVER. ****Never Ever. **** Call the Suicide Hotline if you have thoughts, or know someone who has had those thoughts. Please.**


	22. You and your suggestions

The journey back to the Fortress was normal. In two hours, they arrived at the gates of the Western Fortress, the guards opening them without question at the unusual sight of their lord in his enormous true form. Because anything less than the best would have been an insult to the West, the Fortress was legendarily grandiose.

Built upon a towering cliff by the sea, the entire northern and western sides of the Fortress were overhanging a steep descent to a rocky and watery grave. On the south and east was an immense stone wall. The Western Fortress was obviously originally built to house the true demonic forms of the leaders instead of their humanoid ones, so the gates centered on East and Southern walls were large enough to admit Sesshoumaru's canine form without inhibiting him.

Leaving the intimidating outer wall behind, the small group walked across a large grassy area. The green was only parted by a stone walkway. As Sesshoumaru's entourage entered the immense structure of his home, passing through sturdy wooden doors carved with visages of the great demons who had commanded the West, the room's ceilings continued the design of allowing demonic true forms to be unhindered, no matter how large the form may have been. As Sesshoumaru stood, the crown of his head was still a ways away from the dark ceiling, expressing the growth that the Lord still had room to undertake.

Directly ahead, there was another grand, carved entranceway that led to the Great Hall, which held all of the important events, and also held as a conference or war room, as the need arose. To the right, there was the East Wing of the Fortress, guarded by an equally magnificent door, engraved with a legendary escapade of a past ruler. These doors led to the guest rooms, servant quarters, and the daily dining area.

Seemingly appearing from the walls, a few youkai approached.

"Welcome back, my Lord." murmured the homely female in the lead, with a foreign lilt to her speech, quickly bowing and waiting for instruction. The four demons behind her copied her actions.

Matsu stepped forward from his position at the side of AhUn, who had the midnight-haired Kagome in a deep recuperative slumber in the saddle. "Maia, take Kagome to a guest room. Care for her, make sure she is fed."

"Of course Master Matsu. And Rin?" Maia asked, signaling to a demon behind her to take the comatose human. Matsu replied by gesturing to the transformed Sesshoumaru, who had proceeded to the third and last door in the entrance hall, the West Wing, where no one but the Lord and family resided, and only a select few were permitted to enter. Maia, taking a closer inspection of the inu, noticed Rin napping in the soft fur between his shoulder blades.

Unsurprisingly, Matsu and Kaage followed him into the family wing, but after having Kaage put Rin into the child's room neighboring his chambers, Sesshoumaru shut the doors; leaving Matsu and Kaage outside, effectively giving the impression that their lord did not want to speak with them.

For the next week, Matsu became more frustrated by the fact that Sesshoumaru was ignoring them. Kaage, though he did not show it, was as well. Matsu spent those days in contemplation. Every morning, he would check on the improving health of Kagome, and then disappear. On the eighth day, Matsu finally confronted his lord.

"Kagome will be the one to break your curse." He declared. Sesshoumaru, having just seen his friend crawl in from the balcony hanging over the cliff, stared blankly at him.

Kaage suddenly appeared, standing next to Matsu. "I agree. You should try to get Kagome to fall in love with you."

Out of the many emotions that he was feeling at the moment, some being confusion and incredulity, anger rose to the surface.

His fury prevented him for the moment to respond to Matsu, so the deer youkai continued, "You are presented with an opportunity and I suggest you take it."

Finally finding his communication skills, Sesshoumaru scathed, "You and your _suggestions_, Matsu. You expect me to break this curse with a _human! _A human _miko,_ no less!" he barked, "Ridiculous! There is no way I could fall in _love _with such an inadequate species!"

"I'll be sure to tell Rin that."

Sesshoumaru lunged at his friend, trapping Matsu underneath his paw. His growls shook the room around him, causing a large tapestry to fall, clattering to the ground. Through the wall that connected to Rin's chambers, there was a small yelp of fright from the child, caused by the vibrating walls. Sesshoumaru stopped growling.

Matsu gave him a meaningful look. Sesshoumaru let him up but didn't say a thing.

"Where else are you going to find another female that has the ability to love you?" Matsu asked as he brushed off his clothes.

Kaage, who had flown to a high rafter to avoid the attack, then said, "And those simpering females from the other houses in the West do not qualify. You would never associate yourself with those that are easily manipulated. We know you, you could never love them."

"What makes that _human priestess_ so much different?" he scathed.

"She's loyal."

"To that _half-breed_."

"There is no reason why that loyalty cannot be earned by you. She knew Rin for merely a day and the miko has already accepted her, and is as loyal to her as any mother." Matsu pointed out. "There is no eligible demoness alive who will do that."

Kaage put in his two cents, "Nearly everyone in the land has heard how that miko adopted the demon fox kit as her own."

"And she is not from this land. You told us she was from a land accessed through the Bone-Eaters Well. It is obvious that she is _different_."

"Or foolish." Sesshoumaru interjected, "There is still no denying that I am a demon and she a miko. Our kinds are _born _to be at odds."

"Since when have you let something as simple as that get in your way?" the buck reasoned.

The inu glared, "Even if this _utterly ridiculous _notionwere to succeed, she would become the Lady to the West. Never in its history has the West had a _miko_ at its head, much less a _human! _ Her species simply does not have strength enough to rule the West. I will not let such weakness enter the West! The other Lands would surely laugh then wage war."

Matsu took a deep breath, "Not if she were to prove herself valuable."

"How is she _valuable?_ That girl is a _weak human_!"

It was obvious Matsu tried to contain his anger, for his wide brown eyes flashed crimson. "She is _not_ a weak human, Sesshoumaru! She is a_ priestess _with reiki strong enough to match your youki. She's intelligent, and has alluded to knowing the future, which would give us outstanding tactical advantages. It would improve human, demon, and priestess relationships throughout the West, giving us advantages over the others."

It was apparent that Sesshoumaru was fishing for more reasons to avoid proceeding down this presented path, "As Lady, she would need to produce a successor. An heir would purify itself."

Kaage's voice from the rafters spoke, "There is no way to know that. Such a union has never happened. An heir could possibly become stronger, immune to purification and possibly able to use it in conjunction with youki."

Not desperate, for Sesshoumaru could never experience such a thing, but nearly so, he defaulted, "I still cannot fall in love with her."

"I think the problem is for her to fall in with you. Not you fall in love with her." Kaage said calmly, in the way someone speaks when they know the truth.

"Enough!" The inu barked.

"No, Sesshoumaru!" Matsu shouted, eyes now wholly that livid red. He leapt over to a secret compartment in the wall and opened it. Inside was the cursed white rose, in full bloom, and lying next to two fallen petals. Picking it up, Matsu presented it to Sesshoumaru, and at the moment, a third petal broke off and drifted to the ground. He did not need to say anything.


	23. Demons here, Gods there

**A/N: Changes Maia's name to Myrrha. Had an idea. :D **

**~~::~~**

Humming, Myrrha gently coaxed the spoon of soup into the unconscious girl's mouth. Mentally singing the words to the lullaby, she watched carefully so that Kagome would not choke. However, when the demon saw the muscles in the throat flex, the now-empty spoon went lax in her hand, and all noise stopped.

"Kagome?" Myrrha whispered, hoping that the movement wasn't just a trick of her mind.

With a mighty groan, the futuristic female rolled over. "Five more minutes..." Kagome murmured with a sigh.

"Oh! You are finally awake, child!" Myrrha exclaimed, drawing the startled girl into a hug.

Kagome squeaked, surrendering to the bone-crushing embrace of the strangely-accented youkai. Myrrha pulled back from the hug, and Kagome got a glimpse of her unusual assaulter. Piled atop a round face were yards of intricately braided brunette hair. Round, light yellow eyes stared at her in wonder, and a wide mouth was curled in an exalted smile beneath a straight nose. Kagome realized that this demon was from another land, since she bore features that are not found in the Asian cultures. She guessed that this demon was from around Europe.

"Who are you?" Kagome stuttered.

"Where are my manners?" Myrrha chastised herself. Pulling back, she introduced herself, "I'm Myrrha."

Still blearily blinking more than a week of sleep away, Kagome just asked what came to her mind first, "Myrrha, like myrrh. Isn't that a tree of some kind?"

Myrrha's expression froze for a moment, the previous exaltation of the last few moments disappearing. "Yes. It is. I'm…named after it, you could say."

"But myrrh doesn't grow here." Kagome said, rubbing her eyes to further rid herself of the claws of slumber that were trying to bring her back into its bosom. She became tiredly mortified when she felt how much eye gunk had accumulated on her lashes.

Myrrha let out a laugh, a little forced, "You would be correct, little one. I'm from a land far away called Greece."

"Greece? Like, gods and goddesses and Zeus and Hades and Poseidon and stuff?" Asked Kagome, carefully cleansing her eyes of the horrible gunk, and missing the impressed look the Grecian demon gave her.

Myrrha reached over and picked up the fallen spoon from the blankets, "Demons here, gods there."

Finally, last vestige of eye gunk and sleep gone, Kagome looked at Myrrha incredulously, "You mean to tell me that Ares, Aphrodite and the rest are _real_?"

Myrrha's expression once again went cold, "Yes, Aphrodite is very much real."

"Is she as gorgeous as everyone says?" Kagome asked, curious, and still in that peculiar land between total awareness and blissful ignorance of life that sleep sometimes brings. Kagome jumped when she heard the snap of the spoon in the Grecian's hand.

"Yes. And she is as cruel as she is beautiful." Her face was sour, and pained. Kagome picked up on the silent suffering of the demon next to her bed.

She narrowed concerned eyes at Myrrha. "She did something to you, didn't she?"

An unusual yellow tear fell from her eye. It was a thick liquid, almost like sap. But it disappeared the next second with a sweep of Myrrha's hand. "Yes."

Kagome sidled closer to Myrrha, and gently rid her hand of the broken spoon, then gently grasped her hand. "I'm sorry." Another one of those golden tears fell.

Suddenly, Myrrha let out a depreciating laugh. "Come, come. We must tell the others you have woken. They've been waiting for nearly ten days!"

"Ten _days!_" Kagome shrieked, temporarily forgetting the last five minutes of her wakefulness in her surprise.

The Grecian smiled, "Only nearly. It's the evening of the ninth day since Lord Sesshoumaru returned to the Fortress."

"Why was I asleep for so long?" Kagome asked, throwing the covers off of her and practically leaping out of bed, sudden energy infusing itself into her body, making her want to move.

"From what Masters Kaage and Matsu have told me, you'd been imprisoned for about a week, and then you over-exerted your reiki." Myrrha told her, springing up from her seat and rushing over to a wardrobe, guessing from the exuberance that Kagome went about brushing out her hair at a vanity, that the girl was eager to _do_ something. "You aren't one to just sit around, are you?"

Kagome set the brush down from a vigorous brushing, and looked at Myrrha who was walking toward her with some traditional miko garb. Sneering at the loathed red pants while she adorned them, she answered, "Not really."

Just as Kagome had tucked in the white shirt that accompanied the red pants, her excitement dampened when that curious veil of forgetfulness lifted as sleep became a distant thought. Sesshoumaru was still cursed, Inuyasha and the others were probably mad with worry, she still had to learn more about her powers, her family in the future had no idea what had happened, and she all of a sudden felt as if she had three gallons of liquid in her bladder.

Myrrha, noticing the sudden silence from the miko, turned to look at her. On her face was a mixture of sadness, eagerness, and desperation. They made eye contact, and Kagome opened her mouth, "I need to pee. Where's the bathroom?"

"Oh! Through that door." She pointed to a small wooden door across the room. In a mad dash, Kagome opened the door and vanished through the door. At the click of the latch, Matsu entered the room.

So routine was his visits, that he didn't even look at the bed to make sure that its' charge was there, and settled into the chair. A weary sigh escaped his lips as he finally looked up, then that expelled air was sucked back in when he noticed Kagome was not there. The whole time, Myrrha watched with a smile on her face.

"She is awake, Master Matsu. She is eager to start the day." She explained as the deer demon leapt out of the chair and saw the Grecian there.

"She is awake." He repeated

Myrrha nodded and moved to exit the room, "Yes. And not even two minutes after she opened her eyes had she nearly come to ousting dark secrets. Careful what you reveal, Matsu, she has a talent."


	24. It was not a request!

Ch. 24 You are not permitted in the Western Wing

Kagome felt like she had climbed up the beanstalk and entered the giants' home. The Western Fortress was so _huge_. When she had left her room, she was surprised when it opened into a corridor as wide as a two-lane highway with a ceiling so tall that she couldn't see it.

Every swish of her, Matsu, and Myrrha's clothing echoed loudly off the stonework as they escorted her to somewhere else in the Fortress. Kagome wasn't sure where, since they hadn't told her and she was just so anxious to do something that she barely cared to ask. But, as she passed many variously sized, wondrously carved wooden doors hiding mysterious rooms, her curiosity refused to let her keep her mouth shut.

"So, where're we going?" Kagome piped, being startled slightly when her voice seemed to ricochet around them in the spacy corridors.

"Lord Sesshoumaru wished to see you as soon as you had awakened." Myrrha said, in a notably softer tone. Kagome nodded and continued to curiously look at the pictures that were engraved on each of the doors she passed. Most of them featured some kind of battle, others depicted tragedies, some just had outstanding visages who she assumed were famous, and there were plenty scenic views carved into dark wood. She entertained her imagination by guessing what was behind each door.

She was contemplating the likelihood of a room storing a lot of fluffy things when they entered the larger-than-life Entrance Hall. "How big is this place?" She asked, whirling around in a circle to try and take it all in at once.

"The Western Fortress was originally built to cater to demons' true forms, since very few were able to assume a smaller one." Matsu explained, leading Kagome further into the Hall. He led them to the door that was directly across from what she assumed was the Fortress's main entrance, judging by the sheer opulence of it being the largest door that she had seen so far.

"Whoa…" Kagome exclaimed upon walking through the doors and entering the large room. "This is _insane!_" Kagome was drawn to the back of the room, behind where two large chairs were situated, where there was a panoramic view of the roiling sea, hundreds of feet over a cliff.

Matsu and Myrrah gave an identical look of confusion at each other, the room, as far as they knew, didn't have any consciousness, so why would the curious miko state that it had a lack of sanity?

Kagome ran across the large room, feet tapping the smooth and polished floor, which appeared to be similar to marble. Large sconces, most unlit, gave the hall a dim and intimate feel. Passing by the two 'thrones' on the dais in front of the large window, Kagome stopped abruptly a foot away from the glass, blue eyes greedily taking in the mesmerizing water.

"I shall go get Lord Sesshoumaru." Myrrha excused herself, yellow eyes glittering in amusement at the strange human's antics. Matsu watched the Greek leave; doe-brown eyes attentively watching the brunette disappear into the Entrance Hall and toward the Western Wing.

At a more sedate pace, the stag demon joined the miko at the window. As he drew closer, he saw the irregular quaking of her shoulders, and the scent of tears.

Startled, Matsu rushed to her side, "Lady Kagome? What is the matter?"

Watery eyes looked unseeingly into the scene beyond and talked more to herself than to the youkai, "My friends. They don't have any idea that I'm okay. Shippo, he needs me. Sango needs someone to tell her that what happened wasn't her fault. Miroku will try to be strong, but he can't do it alone. And Inuyasha—" Kagome choked out a sob. "I feel so selfish. I've been sleeping while they have probably run themselves ragged trying to find me. Or—" she let out a whimper, "They've already given up."

"Lady Kagome! Do not think such things. You were taken hostage, your reiki was overtaxed, and your body needed to recover from the trauma." Tentatively, Matsu laid a clawed hand onto her shoulder comfortingly. Like any male, he did not have any other idea on how to calm the emotional female.

With desperate eyes, Kagome pinned her baby blues onto Matsu, "Is there any way I can go to them? I need to be there!"

Matsu scrambled for a response, but was cut off by a sharp bark from the entrance. Kagome shifted her attention to the white canine making its way toward them. "Sesshoumaru! Can you get me to Kaede's village? Please! I need to see my friends."

Sesshoumaru growled, red eyes glaring at the priestess. Kaage, with his usual great timing, appeared to translate, "You will not be permitted to leave. You must stay and develop your reiki. Only after you have released this Sesshoumaru from the curse may you leave."

"But Sesshoumaru! They don't know I'm okay! I have to tell them!" Kagome practically begged.

"They will be contacted. But you must stay here." Sesshoumaru dictated.

"I don't even have to stay long! Just ten minutes so that I can see that they're okay!" She became desperate.

"Silence! You agreed to break this curse and I will hold you to it." The Lord barked.

"I will still help you! I will!" Kagome assured, stepping closer to Sesshoumaru.

Sesshoumaru glared at the young woman who kept defying him. "You will force me to be under this curse that threatens my life for your whims?"

"No!" Kagome shouted, "Just- just let me see them! I want to go home! My kit, he needs me, and Sango she's—"

"You will stop this foolishness!" the inu interrupted. "You will stay here until this curse is broken. You are welcome to explore the Fortress, except for the Western Wing. You will join me for the evening meal to discuss your reiki training."

With a sniff, Kagome said, "I don't want to go to dinner. I want to go home."

Frustrated, Sesshoumaru barked, "It was not a request!"

With a sob Kagome ran past Sesshoumaru and went towards her room, wiping a steady stream of tears away. Myrrha, who was standing at the door, followed her.

Matsu, who had been watching this interaction with slight amazement glared at his Lord, "If you want her to fall in love with you _that_ is not the way to do it."

A ferocious growl that shook the walls was his response.


End file.
